When did people start thinking that it was okay to publicly humiliate another person because of their practicing religion? Is it because they are racist? Is it because they are just plain mean? or is it because they are scared of something different, something foreign to them? We see in the story of Kathy and Zietoun that they practice their Muslim faith both publicly and with pride. While Kathy is at the mall, a young girl tries to sneak up behind her and take her hijab off of her head. The idea of trying to hurt somebody that you don’t even know, just because they are wearing something on their head is beyond me. Did our younger generations learn that from their parents? or is it something new that has been developing more drastically since the nine-eleven attacks? Doesn’t everybody know that not all Muslims are terrorists? With the religious prosecution aside, the other aspect of this cruel act that perhaps makes me the most angry is the fact that somebody thought that was okay. Somebody thought that yanking Kathy's hijab off of her head and dismissing her religion was okay. But worst of all, somebody thought that was funny.
Which leads me to my next question, since when did people start thinking that hurting people was funny? This doesn't only happen in religious instances such as this one, but in other places too, such as high school. Girls, especially, go out of their way to make others feel some sort of pain or shame, just for the hell of it. Bringing someone else down doesn't make you feel better. So why do we do it? I think its because we are scared. Maybe we are scared of foreign religions, or we are scared of foreign people, but perhaps were just scared of ourselves.
